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Annual Conference

2018 Design Field School – Indonesia

The Design Field School ran from August 27th to September 6th this year in Indonesia, starting in Surabaya in Java and ending in Kuta in Bali leading up to the APRU SCL Conference in Hong Kong. Stuart Harris and Mayeesha Shafiq, both third year students studying Landscape Architecture at the University of New South Wales in Australia beautifully recounted their experiences of the Design Field School in blog form. 13 students from schools affiliated with APRU SCL participated in the Design Field School and explored a wide range of issues in sustainability with on-site experiential leaning. Please click on the photos below to learn more about the wonderful experience offered by the Field Design School in their beautifully written blogs.

2018 APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Conference

September 6-9, 2018 | University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong

The 2018 APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Conference will be held at the University of Hong Kong in September 6-9, 2018. Building on the success of the inaugural SCL Conference in Portland, it will be structured around working group sessions, plenary talks and discussions, as well as optional local field trips and study tours within the region.

The conference will continue the working group frameworks, agendas, and commitments to academic publication, but will look to address the issue of ‘agency’, a recurrent theme in many of the discussions during this year’s conference, which encompasses core sustainable practices such as anticipatory planning, action-oriented design, and advocacy. Importantly, the conference will maintain its emphasis on integration across the working group themes, and between the diverse geopolitical backgrounds, disciplines, and paradigms of the conference participants.

2017 APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Conference

The inaugural APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Conference was hosted by the University of Oregon (UO), in the White Stag Building in Portland, Oregon, from September 15-17, 2017. The purpose of this conference, aligning with the goals of APRU SCL, was to provide opportunities for experts from different regions, cultures, and disciplines to collaborate on local and global challenges across the Pacific Rim, which will lead to transformative on-the-ground changes between cities and their surrounding landscapes. We encouraged the participants not only engage in knowledge creation and education, but serve as problem-solvers, innovators, connectors, and agents of change.

Over 120 people from 14 countries participated in the conference, including designers, planners, researchers, practitioners, educators, and students from various disciplines. Participants and delegates were welcomed by Michael H. Schill, UO President; Christoph Lindner, Dean of UO College of Design; Christopher Tremewan, APRU Secretary General; and Bart Johnson, APRU SCL Steering Committee Chair and Department Head of UO Landscape Architecture. The three-day event included lightning talks, plenary panel discussions, field trips, and most importantly, working groups sessions.

Lightning Talks & Panel DiscussionsLightning talks and discussions were centered on best practices and approaches toward city-landscape sustainability across the Pacific Rim.

Lightning Talks on Best Practices in Portland/Pacific NorthwestThe first three lightning talks focused on the Pacific Northwest. Professor Carl Abbott, Portland State University (PSU), spoke about the pragmatic origins of Oregon’s land use and planning regulation through the lens of Senate Bill 100, which demands city and counties create a comprehensive plan in preparation for growing settlements. Following the conversation, Professor Ethan Seltzer, PSU, introduced Portland’s bottom-up planning process and detailed how Metro is approaching the increase of population migration. Zooming out to a larger scale, Professor Marina Alberti, UW, addressed sustainability of cities and landscapes through an eco-evolutionary perspective. She argued that cities are hybrid-ecosystems with potential for human and nature innovation, as well as adaptation. Finally, James Allison, Portland Parks & Recreation, further elaborated on how public engagement can lead to on-the-ground change and foster land stewardship. These outcomes continue to shape the evolving relationship between cities and landscapes.

Lightning Talks on Best Practices Across Pacific RimThe second set of lightning talks provided examples from other regions across the Pacific Rim, from Oceania, East Asia to Latin America. Professor Helen Lochhead, UNSW, presented issues that harbor cities like Sydney, Australia are facing. She proposed that urban regeneration and innovative transformation of infrastructure are fundamental to creating resilient cities. Professor Chun-Yen Chang, NTU, addressed human well-being concerns in dense East Asian cities and how evidence-based design is critical in promoting health. Finally, Professor Beatriz C. Maturana, University of Chile, shared her optimistic view of how policies and media could advocate for positive actions that respond to climate change and social segregation. Despite various geopolitical contexts across the Pacific Rim, the conference participants found that each region is addressing place-based solutions to deal with their local issues, as well as the problems that most regions are facing globally, such as gentrification, spatial inequality, ecological degradation, loss of agricultural land, and extreme weather events.

Panel Discussion

Continuing the discussions from the first day, six panelists gathered to provide distinctive viewpoints from their regions and discuss how the hub as a whole could work towards successfully completing its goals in the future.

Professor Beatriz C. Maturana, University of Chile, spoke about the case of social housing in Chile. She suggested that instead of artificially integrating parcels based on income criteria, gathering people with common interests (e.g. low-cost energy neighborhoods) could better allow an innovative way of social integration in cities. Professor Mark Gold, UCLA, shared how UCLA responded to President Obama’s Grand Challenges program by setting ambitious goals for a sustainable Los Angeles He emphasized that, in addition to research and education, policy actions through community engagement is a critical responsibility of higher education. Professor Makena Coffman, UH, used Honolulu, Hawai’i as an example of the unique challenges faced by coastal communities and the Pacific islands. Honolulu is forced to adapt quickly to rising sea levels, beach migration, and king tides induced by climate change. Professor Jie Hu, THU, advocated for a balanced system between economic development and environmental quality in rapidly developing cities. Moreover, he urged for more political leaders to be actively involved in planning and design. Professor Mathew Pryor, HKU, encouraged us to learn from a spectrum of examples, like Hong Kong. Hong Kong, a seemingly unsustainable city of extreme density, was able to achieve low crime, low body mass index of its citizens, efficient public transportation, and protection of 70% of its natural areas, which allows for efficient use of lands and ultimately enhances landscape-level sustainability. Finally, Professor Errol J Haarhoff, University of Auckland, voiced that collaborations across groups, geography, and disciplines could lead to transformational visions of our sustainable future.

Ten distinct working groups focused on issues such as sustainable urban design, urban agriculture, biodiversity, energy, transportation, water systems, sanitation, urban growth management and waterfront development (see following titles). After several hours of intensive meetings during the conference, each working group crafted a collaborative, paper-based plan for the first volume of a book series or journal publication.

Recurring TopicsThe plenary sessions led to discussions about the gaps between the relationships of academia, practitioners, policy makers, and the general public. Despite unique contexts and scales, issues raised were echoed by those from North America, South America, Asia, and Oceania. Participants noted the limits that can be achieved in academia, but with practical implementations, the vision of hope for best practices is one step closer to real-life evaluation, modification, and advancement.

“Advocacy,” a recurring theme throughout the conference, reminded us that selecting a language that is receptive to all audiences is paramount in leading to a more effective and “sustainable” outcome. Incorporating social activism, vision, and government engagement, attendees encouraged a more inclusive, innovative, and collaborative framework.

As designers, we strive to dream big and imagine the unprecedented; as scientists, we demand critical and rigorous research, yet are skeptical of claims that sound too good to be true. Despite many challenges we encountered, a hopeful attitude during our conversations contributed to the success of the conference. We look forward to the annual conferences as models for positive collaborations across time and space.

Dissemination PlanAt the conference, working group leaders showed strong support for a book publication resulting from topics discussed at the conference, with contributions from each working group. The body of the book would be a compendium of position papers from each working group that establishes an agenda for future work. See our first white paper catalyzed from the 2017 conference!

The book would begin with a short introduction to the work of the hub, followed by a short overview of the format and content of the book, and end with a short summarizing chapter that suggests the future priorities and work of the hub. Working groups at the inaugural conference are invited to submit chapters for publication in the first volume of the SCL book series.

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